Elon Musk: Humanity could begin living on Mars by 2055

According to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, humanity could establish a stable and self-sustaining colony on Mars by 2055, provided that several key breakthroughs are achieved in heavy-lift rocket technology. He shared this view in an interview with the All-In Podcast.

Musk noted that if the payload capacity for missions to Mars can be increased exponentially, humans may begin living on the planet within the next 30 years.

’’Increasing tonnage is extremely important because a Martian settlement would require a wide range of things, from residential modules and robotic assistants to food cultivation, fuel extraction from the Martian atmosphere, as well as materials for producing microchips, computers, and rockets,’’ Musk explained.

The fully reusable Starship V3 transport system is intended to perform these tasks and will be able to deliver more than 100 tons of payload into orbit. This is approximately 2.5 times greater than the payload capacity of the Falcon Heavy rocket. However, like the Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy can only be partially reused. According to the developers, the Super Heavy and the Ship will be able to carry out multiple flights.

According to Musk, the height of Starship V3 will be about 124.4 meters, while that of Starship V2 is 121 meters. This third version will be the first modification of the transport system capable of flying to Mars. SpaceX plans to use it at the beginning of next year to carry out the first unmanned missions to Mars.

Earlier, it was reported that traces of giant rivers stretching 15,000 kilometers had been discovered on Mars.